Abstract
BackgroundThe project selection process is a crucial step for healthcare organizations at the moment of implementing six sigma programs in both administrative and caring processes. However, six-sigma project selection is often defined as a decision making process with interaction and feedback between criteria; so that it is necessary to explore different methods to help healthcare companies to determine the Six-sigma projects that provide the maximum benefits. This paper describes the application of both ANP (Analytic Network process) and DEMATEL (Decision Making trial and evaluation laboratory)-ANP in a public medical centre to establish the most suitable six sigma project and finally, these methods were compared to evaluate their performance in the decision making process.MethodsANP and DEMATEL-ANP were used to evaluate 6 six sigma project alternatives under an evaluation model composed by 3 strategies, 4 criteria and 15 sub-criteria. Judgement matrixes were completed by the six sigma team whose participants worked in different departments of the medical centre.ResultsThe improving of care opportunity in obstetric outpatients was elected as the most suitable six sigma project with a score of 0,117 as contribution to the organization goals. DEMATEL-ANP performed better at decision making process since it reduced the error probability due to interactions and feedback.ConclusionsANP and DEMATEL-ANP effectively supported six sigma project selection processes, helping to create a complete framework that guarantees the prioritization of projects that provide maximum benefits to healthcare organizations. As DEMATEL- ANP performed better, it should be used by practitioners involved in decisions related to the implementation of six sigma programs in healthcare sector accompanied by the adequate identification of the evaluation criteria that support the decision making model. Thus, this comparative study contributes to choosing more effective approaches in this field. Suggestions of further work are also proposed so that these methods can be applied more adequate in six sigma project selection processes in healthcare.
Highlights
The project selection process is a crucial step for healthcare organizations at the moment of implementing six sigma programs in both administrative and caring processes
The Analytic Hierarchy Process is a technique that allows to modelling decision making processes through problem decomposition under a hierarchical structure composed by goals, criteria, sub-criteria and alternatives, in which a set of participants evaluates each of these components by pairwise comparisons[17,18]
In this paper, we presented the results of a study on the application of Analytic Network Process (ANP) and Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)-ANP besides to a comparative analysis between them so that, researchers and practitioners can choose more accurate approaches for six sigma project selection process in healthcare sector
Summary
The project selection process is a crucial step for healthcare organizations at the moment of implementing six sigma programs in both administrative and caring processes. One of the key factors of Six Sigma methodology is the correct selection of projects [7,8,9,10] This process consists about identifying, prioritizing and selecting the project(s) that provide(s) the highest impact on organization goals [11], and is done through the evaluation of a set of criteria such as: Impact on product or service quality, impact on customer satisfaction, impact on revenue growth, project costs, project duration, risks, information reliability; among others[4,12,13,14]. The six sigma project selection involves the evaluation of different criteria by a set of professionals, who have a wide knowledge of the organization goals and key processes, and they are commonly considered as leaders with high level of responsibility [15,16]. The Analytic Hierarchy Process is a technique that allows to modelling decision making processes through problem decomposition under a hierarchical structure composed by goals, criteria, sub-criteria and alternatives, in which a set of participants evaluates each of these components by pairwise comparisons[17,18]
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